


Pattern

by Truly_Hopeless



Series: Cabin in the Woods AU [1]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Good Yagami Light, Light needs a hug, Morally Grey Situations, One-Sided Attraction, Scheming, Spoilers for Cabin in the Woods, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27029347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truly_Hopeless/pseuds/Truly_Hopeless
Summary: "The third time this happened, Light was still 18, he was prepared, and he finally got confirmation that these incidents were not coincidences."How Light's war against an unseen organization began.
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Series: Cabin in the Woods AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972654
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	Pattern

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata and the Cabin in the Woods belongs to Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard.

The first time it happened, Light was 17 and he was traumatized.

“Light! Thank goodness! We were so worried!”

Sachiko sobbed as she squeezed her son’s left hand. After a long moment, he squeezed back without saying a word. He was lying in a hospital bed and his right shoulder and hand were bandaged up. His usually bright amber eyes were currently dull with shadows beneath them indicating he had barely slept and he was shaking uncontrollably.

According to the police, they found him covered in blood and wildly looking around while carrying a knife, only stopping when the police ordered him to put the weapon down; most of the blood was identified as his own from the wounds, though it was mixed with the blood of his now dead friends and an unidentified man. A bloody axe was found with fingerprints that did not belong to Light or any of the victims so they concluded that the killer was the unknown man.

Sayu was horrified to see her brother in such a state. He’d been hurt badly before, but the previous times he was able to laugh it off. This, however, was not something he could easily get over.

Souichirou remained calm, but inside he was furious. As a father and the Chief of the Japanese NPA, he swore to make the bastard who did this pay.

“Tell us what happened, Light. This could develop into something serious so we need to know all that we can in order to catch the one responsible.”

Light did his best to recall the events, both to provide information and to try to wrap his mind around what had happened to him.

Light and his friends had gone to stay at a cabin belonging to one of Kamoda's relatives in the mountains for the weekend to celebrate the completion of their college entrance exams. Some of his friends did get out of control (Yamamoto discovered some unopened liquor in the cabinet and decided to start playing drinking games with some of the others, and Yuri seemed far more affectionate than usual to the point that she all but dragged Kamoda outside to become “better acquainted” with him), but they made sure to not damage any of the property, make a lot of noise, or otherwise cause a disturbance.

Then a giant man carrying an axe and wearing a burlap sack over his head had arrived and started killing everyone; Yuri had died first, then those who had been drinking the alcohol (which the police would later reveal had been spiked with a drug that worked similar to rophynol before being sealed in the bottle) were killed and the rest, even those one would think would be able to either outrun or outsmart him, ended up dying within two hours.

Light was the only one to survive, and even managed to get the upper hand on the killer at some point by stabbing him and pushing him out of a window on the second floor, but not before the brute had successfully taken a couple of swings at him with the axe (the doctors said it was a miracle he was still alive and that they didn’t have to amputate anything, though they advised against him using his right arm for several months) and he had vanished before Light had a chance to make sure he was dead.

When he had finished, what little remained of his composure shattered and he started crying.

“What did I do to deserve this?! What did any of us do to deserve this?!”

Nothing his family said could console him and he continued crying until he passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

The second time it happened, Light was 18 and he was both horrified that he saw more people die and furious about how stupid some of the victims were.

_Didn’t I specifically tell them not to drink **any** of the alcohol they found in the cabinet?! Even if they weren’t drugged this time—which Dad says they were!—and even if we didn’t get attacked by…whatever **that** was, it still would have been an awful idea to drink while we were out to sea with a storm on the way!_

He and four others had won a contest (a contest that, in hindsight, Light realized he didn’t remember entering) where they would get to go on a weeklong cruise and meet Misa Amane, an Idol and aspiring actress. His parents thought that this would be good for him, to take his mind off his friends’ deaths in January and to take a little break from his studies at To-Oh. Sayu, who was a major fan of Misa (the only Idol she liked more than Misa was Hideki Ryuga), asked Light to get Misa’s autograph for her. All went well and Light was enjoying himself (rude and annoying roommates not withstanding), until a storm came and a giant squid-like monster attacked the ship.

While his fellow contest winners and many of the other passengers had died either by drowning or being eaten by the beast, Light wasn’t the only survivor: Misa Amane had helped Light beat back one of the tentacles that had broken into one of the rooms to try to snatch up more victims and an elderly man named Quillsh Wammy helped them find two unbroken lifeboats and together they managed to save several other people, including some children that had been on the ship with their parents, from drowning when the monster destroyed the ship. He also managed to contact the mainland so they could all be rescued from a nearby island.

Light was grateful to be alive and that he had managed to, in a weird way, make friends (Quillsh apparently worked part time as an assistant to a private detective so he was in contact with Light’s father and Misa came to visit Light at his home a week later, much to the surprise and delight of Sayu), but he hated that he had witnessed two massacres in one year and after barely having enough time to recover from the last one (his half-healed arm put him at a great disadvantage and he was sure he would have died had Misa and Quillsh not been there to help him). And he was suspicious that there was a similar set-up to the incident at the cabin with the drugged alcohol and sudden idiotic behavior of otherwise intelligent people.

_Could there be someone deliberately trying to get people killed? What purpose does this serve? How are the man and the monster related? Is there something I missed?_

* * *

The third time this happened, Light was still 18, he was prepared, and he finally got confirmation that these incidents were not coincidences.

He couldn’t remember the exact details about where they were or who all was involved (barring his father and one person who would become another ally in his ongoing fight for survival against _them_ , so it may have involved the police from the beginning), but he remembered being the first to arrive at the location and, after seeing the bottles of unopened alcohol in the cabinet, decided he was taking no chances this time.

The alcohol went straight down the drain and the bottles were thoroughly cleaned, he made sure to memorize all possible escape routes and hiding places, and made sure to gather any possible weapons (knives, the bottles, heavy decorations, even a pepper grinder) and put them all around the house in easily accessible places so that if someone or something started attacking them, they would be ready for them.

He also warned the other people to be on guard in case they or their friends started behaving in a way they normally wouldn’t; while some of them scoffed and said he was being paranoid, others, including a new NPA recruit named Touta Matsuda, heeded his warnings. Only one person died: another officer named Ukita, who went down fighting the same axe-wielding brute that had murdered Light’s friends all those months ago (confirmed with a blood test comparison to the older sample; they were still unable to identify who he was, however).

It was not just that the killer was the very same man that had tormented Light that tipped him off that something was going on. During the fight with the killer, a mirror was smashed and revealed an active camera there. A later sweep done by the ICPO revealed that there were no less than 500 cameras hidden throughout the building, with 64 of them being in the room Light was staying in. They also found some hidden canisters that had been installed into the walls that contained some sort of gas that caused temporary memory loss and made it harder for people to think critically and Mogi recalled holding (and accidentally cutting himself on) a talisman he found in the house that had a pattern similar to the one on the axe (though this talisman was no where to be found).

They were unable to find out who had placed the cameras or canisters, but it was more than enough for Light and his father to conclude that _someone_ was setting these events up and likely for twisted purposes if they were recording everything.

Light was determined to find whoever it was and make them answer for what they’ve done. Now that he knew what to look for, he knew that he could not lose as long as he kept his guard up and had others around him willing to do the same.

* * *

From that point on, he actively sought out these events, hoping to find clues to point to who was behind this and save as many people as possible.

This earned him the nickname "Kira," derived from the word "killer," (though it also meant "beam of light" in Sanskrit) among the people working in the organization that was behind these events since his active interference was _killing_ their chances of having enough sacrifices to appease the Ancient gods.

Naomi Misora, the director of the Japanese branch of the Human Survival Foundation, gritted her teeth as she watched the boy successfully decapitate a cockatrice with a smirk on his face.

No matter what they threw at him, he seemed to always escape with barely a scratch, and take most if not all of the intended sacrifices with him. They even sent several intelligent monsters and assassins to his home to kill him when it became clear that he would continue ruining their plans, but he seemed ready for that, and his family as well since all of them, even the mother and sister who had no prior combat experience unlike the men, were able to overpower the attackers sent their way.

In another life, Naomi would have admired Light and would have considered him an ally. But as she was one of the people in charge of ensuring humanity's survival by sacrificing some people they deemed less worthy of life, all Light did was piss her off. 

She would have to find some other way to get rid of him since brute force appeared to do nothing but waste their resources, including the monsters since many were either killed by Light like the cockatrice or took advantage of the chaos and escaped from their prisons like the sphinx. And some of the monsters even ended up siding with him and were now helping him try to take the HSF down; even the vampire, who used to do whatever they said in exchange for financial support and protection from hunters, refused to kill Light and told them that he would not do their bidding anymore.

And to make matters worse, Light had even formed a support group of sorts to look for other survivors from around the world that also acted as a tool for recruiting more people to help him investigate these incidents. It would only be a matter of time before he found out where one of their headquarters was and everything would go to Hell.

Then a thought occurred to Naomi and she smiled.

_This group is the key to Kira's defeat. I just need someone to join the group and earn his trust. Then I can either persuade him to join us or kill him. In fact, I'll do it myself since I was like him once so I should be able to get through to him._

* * *

Meanwhile, in a private hotel room, one of the Ancient gods popped a chocolate-covered strawberry into his mouth as he watched the handsome young man assess the damage the cockatrice did. The triumphant smile was now replaced with a somber expression as he ran his hand over the face of what used to be a small child. They had been unable to run away fast enough and they had turned into stone.

_Poor Light. Despite your best efforts, you can't save everyone and you know deep down that you will never be able to stop these disasters from happening._

Well, that wasn't exactly true; Light was certainly giving the HSF Hell with his actions and if this kept going, the gods would no longer be obligated to provide protection for humanity and could do whatever they wanted with them and the miserable planet they called home.

Many of the gods were looking forward to this day, having grown tired of the foolishness and cruelty many humans displayed on a constant basis and feeling that they needed to start over with the few people they deemed worthy of a second chance. The god currently watching Light agreed; he had enough of their self-destructive nature and while he had allowed himself to (sort of) live among them as a genius detective for the last decade and a half in order to better understand them and try to help them, that too became tiresome since many times they would reject his advice even though he was right.

But that wasn't the only reason

He knew that someone would rise up and try to take the gods down, since this had happened several times before the agreement was made, and every once in a while there was still someone bold enough to challenge them to try to put an end to the sacrifices. But all the past challengers had failed, since they were not pure enough and lacked the wit and the experience needed to put up a real fight against the gods. These fights often bored him with how easy they were to win and he longed for someone who actually stood a chance against them, against _him_.

And he felt that this Light could be the one to provide that challenge. After surviving his third attack, the god knew that this one was special and his continual survival helped cement that fact. And he was certainly intelligent, since he was at the top of his class in high school, continued to excel at To-Oh, and able to both plan ahead and think on his feet during a crisis. And despite everything that has happened to him, he did not give into any of the vices most people in his situation would turn to in order to escape the pain, and while he had killed many monsters and became frustrated with people who did not listen to him when he was trying to help, he still had a good heart since he never once tried to sacrifice another person to ensure his own survival and has even shown mercy to several monsters who proved that they were not evil (and in some cases could be considered victims themselves).

The god hoped that he would have a chance to go up against Light and see if he could defeat an immortal being like him, if he was worthy to either take his place or remain at his side forever as the world was rebuilt. He just needed to give him a little push in the right direction so that this battle he spent many nights fantasizing about (among _other_ things involving Light) would happen.

After finishing the strawberries and licking the chocolate from his fingers, he reached for the phone and made a call.

"Yes, L?"

"Watari, I would like to meet Light Yagami in person and offer my help."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I know that I probably should have finished the next chapter for "I Move the Stars for No One" (and I promise that I'll get to that), but I really wanted to finish a one-shot that was somewhat Halloween related.
> 
> So in the Discord group that my boyfriend and I started for FNFC.YT projects (assuming we can get any of them off the ground), I decided to put out a little writing challenge/contest for Halloween. The challenge is to write a story that focuses on how much it sucks to be a survivor (especially the only survivor) of a horror story. I decided to follow my own prompt (though I'm obviously not entering my own contest because who actually does that?) and decided that I would write a little AU Death Note series influenced by the film Cabin in the Woods (if you haven't seen it, you probably should) with some liberties taken (instead of all the rituals taking place on one day, they happen constantly throughout the year [because if we're going by the metaplot of the gods representing the audience, I really don't think they'd be happy with just one successful sacrifice a year or having it only happen during Spring Break/Summer, and that instead of each culture just sticking to the formula they came up with [America with the typical slasher formula with a "choose your killer" feature for flavor and Japan with the ghost girl attacking elementary school students], they all use different formulas at different times to achieve the best results [and because while it would certainly be funny if it happened, I don't really see Light holding hands with other people and singing until the scary demon turns into a frog]) and some additional types of monsters thrown in.
> 
> Basically, Light's one of the rare Final Guys that manage to survive at least three horror scenarios. Realizing that these are not accidents, he decides to actively seek out and sabotage these events, unaware that he's kind of screwing over humanity in the process or that the fact that he's survived so many times has attracted the attention of various monsters and one Ancient god who all wish to keep him for themselves (with some having less pure intentions than others) and have joined the survivor group that Light set up in order to get closer to him. So Cabin in the Woods, but now there's an unwanted (and possibly highly dangerous) harem thrown into the mix on top of the other Final Guy angst Light has to deal with.
> 
> These stories are probably going to just be little snippets of plot in the form in no particular order (the last two segments should probably be part of different one-shots if I'm honest, but it didn't feel right to me to just focus on Light here) since I don't really have the patience to string them into a coherent plot, especially with other stories I'm working on. I'll try to get another one out before Halloween if you are interested in this (and it may get easier now that the Census work is finished), though I'm not sure how well I'll be able to keep that promise; the only reason this got done was because I was on a 2-3 hour drive to Mississippi for a job and instead of trying to sleep or just listen to music for the whole ride, I decided to finish this on my phone and publish it (though the latter likely wasn't a great idea since there were so many typos [and there are probably still some that I've missed while editing this] since the ride was bumpy and I was unable to tag it exactly as I wanted to). Hopefully, the next thing I publish will be typo-free. *knocks wood*
> 
> Well, see ya!


End file.
